Forging a New European Ostpolitik – an Assessment of the Eastern Partnership

COLLEGIUM CIVITAS Forging a new European Ostpolitik – An Assessment of the Eastern Partnership edited by Kerry Longhurst Warsaw 2009 COLLEGIUM CIVITAS Project number: FSS/2008/V/D4/W/0008 Project coordinator and editorial assistant: Anna Zielińska Technical editing and proofreading: Magdalena Kopacz © Copyright by Collegium Civitas Press, Warsaw 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy- ing, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of Collegium Civitas. Quot- ing is allowed under the condition of providing the source. Front cover: Bridge [abridged] by JoshJack, Image ID 1281352. Source: SXC.hu, http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1281352. 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Artyleryjska 11 tel. +48 25 643 65 51 e-mail: [email protected] Spis treści Kerry Longhurst Introduction ........................................................................................................ 5 Kerry Longhurst Introducing the Eastern Partnership – Implications for the European Neighbourhood Policy ................................. 9 Anna Zielińska, Kerry Longhurst The Eastern Partnership – Context and Reactions from a Troubled Neighbourhood ........................... 29 Joanna Popielawska The Eastern Partnership in the Context of Other EU Regional Initiatives in the East .................................................... 51 Pavel K. Baev Russia and the EU Eastern Partnership: Cannot Stop It but Loath to Join It .................................................................. 67 Kerry Longhurst Conclusions – What Prospects for the Eastern Partnership? ......................... 83 Publications .......................................................................................................... 89 Collegium Civitas publications ......................................................................... 101 Kerry Longhurst Introduction Is the European Union forging a new Ostpolitik? This question lies at the core of this Studies and Analyses in which we analyse the context of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and consider the prospects of it leading to a recalibration of relations between Brus- sels and its six closest Eastern neighbours. This publication is a result of a one year project carried out by the Centre for Secu- rity Studies, Collegium Civitas (CfSS) in 2008 and 2009 entitled “The European Neighbourhood Policy – assessment, status and outlook”, which was completed with the support granted by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway by means of co-financing from the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Norwegian Finan- cial Mechanism as part of the Scholarship and Training Fund. A key objective of this project was to meet a growing demand for new knowledge and analysis on the EU’s neighbourhood policies, which we have addressed by paying particular attention to the Eastern Partnership initiative. This volume, together with a high-level international seminar “The European Neighbourhood Policy – assessment and outlook” convened by CfSS in Warsaw on October 27th 2009, hopefully make a major contribution to meeting the demand for new knowledge and expert analysis on the subject in hand. Just as importantly we hope that our activities based at CfSS have made an interesting and valid contribution to debates in the run-up to the Polish EU Presidency in 2011, when the Eastern Partnership will become a key priority. The goal of EaP is to enhance the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) by cre- ating a regionally designated new structure for relations with Ukraine, Moldova, Bela- rus, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. One might argue that the Eastern Partnership mirrors or even counterbalances the Union for the Mediterranean, which, since its creation in 2008, attempts to fortify the EU’s relations with the large group of neighbours on the EU’s Southern flank. Indeed, one might conclude that the EaP is simply offering the six neighbours in the East the chance to have what the EU already holds out for the southerners, in the way of As- sociation Agreements and free trade, for example. Though this might be the case, as this volume seeks to explain, the Eastern Part- nership holds the potential for a profound shift in the EU’s relations with its neigh- 5 Kerry Longhurst bours, towards a far more interdependent state of affairs, going well beyond the situation in the South. The prominence of energy security and prospect of far-reaching visa-liberalisation as key points on the EaP agenda testify to the rising prominence of the Eastern neighbourhood. Furthermore, EaP has a palpably more geopolitical char- acter – or at least the potential for this – by virtue of the fact that the EU is becoming more involved in an area where the interests of other major powers in the region re- main strong – namely Russia, Turkey and Iran. Finally, the significance of EaP also derives from the idea that it is an expression of solidarity and recognition of the partners’ European credentials (European Partners), a factor conspicuously absent from the EU’s relations with its southern neighbours (partners of Europe). In relation to this point, those EU member states that favour a further eastern enlargement, want EaP to be regarded as a holding bay for those eastern neighbours that could legiti- mately become candidates for membership one day. In other words, and this is the perspective from Warsaw, EaP is viewed as a means to keep enlargement on the EU’s agenda beyond the current list of candidates. With these ideas in mind this volume presents four chapters which look at the Eastern Partnership from different angles. The first chapter looks at the context out of which the Eastern Partnership arose. The significance of the initial Polish-Swedish proposal for a fresh perspective on the East is set against a discussion of the development of the EU’s political and economic ties to the East that emerged after the end of Communism and implosion of the So- viet Union. The state of play in ENP and the nature of EU contributions to both southern and eastern neighbourhoods are sketched out as a means to compare the two domains. The rising urgency for energy security, the Georgia-Russia war, the creation of the Union for the Mediterranean as well as the ambiguous relationship between enlargement and ENP, the chapter argues provided important impulses behind the Eastern Partnership, which in its structure and objectives seeks to improve upon the ENP formula. Chapter two looks at the mirror image of developments in Brussels by identifying the reception of the EaP in the “troubled” neighbourhood. The discussion begins by posing the question as to whether there is enough will and interest inside the EU to continue with the EaP, prior to Poland taking up the EU Presidency in 2011. An overview of the political and economic situation in the Eastern neighbourhood is sub- sequently sketched out as a means to identify the difficult, yet dynamic context in which this new EU policy is being laid out. The chapter argues, that responses to EaP and willingness to engage on the part of the neighbours have been variable, shaped 6 Introduction mainly by the kind of “future relations” that any given government aspires to have with the EU – which explains the wide gaps between Ukrainian and Belarusian responses, for example. The chapter goes on to identify further variables, such as economic dependence on the EU and relations with Russia, that impact upon the perspectives of all six EaP partners by way of a country by country synopsis. The subsequent chapter opens the lens wider by considering the development of the Eastern Partnership in the context of other regional groupings. This is an appeal- ing discussion since the promotion of regionalism and regional integration has long been a core feature of EU foreign and security policy – though is arguably only a rela- tively recent feature of its policy towards the East. The author argues that the imple- mentation of EaP may well be affected by competition with other regional groupings, and of course with the Union for the Mediterranean when it comes to garnering support from member states and for funding. To elaborate on this argument and to situ- ate the EaP amongst other regional fora, the author provides a detailed overview of the “Northern Dimension” and the “Black Sea Synergy” – their structures, roles and strengths and weaknesses. Chapter four focuses on the question of Russia’s perspective towards the Eastern Partnership. As the author notes, whilst Moscow paid little attention to the an- nouncement of EaP, focussing instead on the issue of NATO enlargement, in the wake of the Georgia-Russia war, the EU’s endeavours became more of a cause for concern by the Kremlin. Thus by the time of the Prague Summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the EU of trying to establish its own sphere of influ- ence. Since then, however, Russian perspectives have returned to a more dispassion- ate view of EaP, though this does not at all preclude the potential for EU-Russia dis- cord in the neighbourhood. As a means to discuss points

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